The Girl from a Thousand Fathoms, Chapter 71 – Good Thinking

Persistent Smith flicked on his
torch and checked his watch. It was about an hour before dawn. ‘Far too early,’
he said curtly.

‘All right.’

Smith felt a little sorry for
being so abrupt. ‘Well, we could take a look.’

He had spent much of the time in
the boot of the Imperial in whispered conversations with the Hand.

‘You’re always popping up when I
don’t need you.’

‘That’s not fair. I’ve been
helpful.’

Smith had to admit this was true.

‘We’ve had fun together,
adventures,’ the Hand said.

Despite himself, Smith had to
agree with that as well.

‘Hand, when I was talking to
Heidi you made me feel really embarrassed.’

‘She thought I was funny.’

‘I wanted to be with her on my
own.’

A long silence followed during
which Smith did some thinking of a type he’d done very little of before.

‘Hand?’

‘Yes?’

‘I know you’re really just me. You’re
not a separate thing. I made you up one day and you hung around.’

‘I know. We’re the same person. You
needed a way to share things. You needed a friend.’

Smith thought about that for a
while.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You’re right. Or
rather, I’m right.’

‘We’re right?’ the Hand
suggested.

‘No,’ Smith said firmly. ‘We’re
both me, so it’s still me who’s right.’

‘Yes. Good Thinking,’ the Hand
said with approval.

Smith knew he had changed from
the person who had invented the Hand. He no longer needed another voice to help
him make his mind up. The realisation felt very good. In that newly empowered
frame of mind, though he couldn’t put a name to the concept, he knew he should
be gracious.

‘Hand, you are fun to have
around, but you can’t just keep appearing when you want to. I don’t want you to
go away and, seeing as you’re me, I can’t really do that. Just don’t forget I’m
the one who wears the hat in this relationship.’

Somehow the Hand contrived to
look deadpan. ‘You’d have to be. I don’t have a head.’

Smith’s laughter boomed through
the car. ‘Yes. I’m the one with the head, which means I get to do the thinking.
Perhaps I should get a white hat like Markus Koponen. After all, we are the
good guys.’